The top 5 creative campaigns to know about right now

Big, ambitious advertising films will surely never go out of style. But just as satisfying are those quietly great ideas that live in the margins and don’t call attention to themselves in quite the same way. We got a bit of both this week. Four of our top 5 campaigns were spots, with tones ranging from wry and comedic to sweeping and epic. But beating them all to the top spot was a great little print and OOH campaign from a candy brand in the U.K. Check out the full top 5 below. 5. Kit Kat: Break Brothers Agency: Orchard Kit Kat’s new ad characters truly personify the candy: four chocolate-suited authority figures known as the “Break Brothers,” who intervene on your behalf when your precious downtime is being threatened. Orchard does a nice job with the comedy here—it helps that there’s conflict at the heart of each scenario—and the plots are suitably silly. Here’s hoping the campaign has (long, chocolatey) legs. 4: Bankwest: Just Enough Bank Agency: Bear Meets Eagle on Fire Quirky scenarios also feature prominently in this bank campaign from Australia, in which our slightly unhinged protagonists find more time for unusual hobbies and pursuits, now that they’re spending less time worrying about their finances. The humor nicely pushes boundaries in places—the Brenda anecdote in the “Best Friend” spot is downright creepy—and the emphasis on math leads to a compelling visual framework for the campaign. 3. Xbox: Wake Up Agency: Droga5 This blockbuster spot from co-directors David Fincher and Romain Chassaing is expressly intended to be a throwback to the glory days of gaming ads a quarter-century ago. It’s not quite on the level of those classics, but “Wake Up” is full of fun moments and has a darkly enveloping vibe. The underlying message feels like the opposite of PlayStation’s famous “Double Life” spot—i.e., gaming doesn’t allow you to become someone else, but instead reconnects you to your true self. That’s a less subversive idea, which is perhaps why “Wake Up” feels a bit more staid than its predecessors. 2. Guinness: Lovely Day Agency: Uncommon New York Just as ambitious—yet completely different in tone—is this Guinness spot from Uncommon, which traverses all 50 states to find Americans uniting over pints with family and friends. There’s a palpable vibe of wanderlust and open-hearted discovery in this campaign, which feels apt coming from a British-born agency quickly making a name for itself in the U.S. The glimpses of America are insightful and inspiring—a strong first step from an Irish brand looking to bring more Americans into its orbit. Also read: Uncommon Creative Studio is off to a flying start in the U.S. 1. Chupa Chups: Molecules of Fun Agency: BBH London For all the great film work this week, we have to give props to BBH for this outstanding print and OOH campaign. The ads use the product in such a clever way: to represent the atoms and bonds in the “happy chemicals” of dopamine, serotonin and endorphin, which are released when you enjoy a lollipop. Science nerds will get their own dopamine hit just by encountering the work, but everyone can appreciate its playfulness, craft and utter simplicity.

The top 5 creative campaigns to know about right now

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